Rate of Software Piracy Vs Value of Software Piracy

Document Type

Article

Department or Administrative Unit

Finance and Supply Chain Management

Publication Date

3-2010

Abstract

A number of studies conclude that there is a greater rate of software piracy by individuals from poorer compared to richer countries. Using archival data, we measure the value of pirated software in addition to the rate of piracy. Under the rational choice theory of crime, we conduct analyses comparing the rate versus value measures of software piracy for a comprehensive sample of 97 countries.

Results confirm the previous finding of higher software piracy rates in poorer compared to richer countries. We extend these findings by demonstrating that the overall value of software pirated per person is greater in richer countries.

The uniqueness of this study is that the value of software piracy has not been studied before in as much depth as the rate of piracy. Software firms can devote their scarce resources to fight digital piracy in countries where the value of the piracy is higher than the rate of piracy.

Comments

This article was originally published in Indore Management Journal. The full-text article from the publisher can be found here.

Due to copyright restrictions, this article is not available for free download from ScholarWorks @ CWU.

Journal

Indore Management Journal

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